First Council of Constantinople, Creed

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.  And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.  Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.  He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father.  And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead.  Whose kingdom shall have no end.  (I)

And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver-of-Life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the prophets.  And [we believe] in one, holy, (II) Catholic and Apostolic Church.  We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, [and] we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.  Amen.

Note I.

This clause had already, so far as the meaning is concerned, been added to the Nicene Creed, years before, in correction of the heresy of Marcellus of Ancyra, of whose heresy a statement will be found in the notes on Canon I. of this Council.  One of the creeds of the Council of Antioch in Encæniis (a.d. 341) reads:  “and he sitteth at the right hand of the Father, and he shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead, and he remaineth God and King to all eternity.”^[207]

Note II.

The word “Holy” is omitted in some texts of this Creed, notably in the Latin version in the collection of Isidore Mercator.  Vide Labbe, Conc., II., 960.  Cf. Creed in English Prayer-Book.

Source edition notes

[207] Soc., H. E., II., 10; Soz., H. E., III. 5; Athanas., De Synod., C. xxij.

Edition and transmission

The paragraphs labeled Notes I and II are the source editor’s apparatus for the creed’s printed callouts.

Translation: Henry R. Percival, The Seven Ecumenical Councils, NPNF II.14 (1900), via CCEL.